State ranks residents' access to food

Thursday

Apr 11, 2013 at 12:01 AMApr 11, 2013 at 11:01 AM

A newly released state-wide ranking of Connecticut towns found that the residents in some local communities have trouble getting easy access to food, though many of those same towns showed the highest level of participation with food-assistance programs.

John Penney

A newly released state-wide ranking of Connecticut towns found that the residents in some local communities have trouble getting easy access to food, though many of those same towns showed the highest level of participation with food-assistance programs.

According to a study conducted by the UConn’s Zwick Center for Food and Resource Policy and Department of Cooperative Extension, many Eastern Connecticut towns, including Norwich, Killingly, Putnam and Griswold, are “food insecure,” based on one or more factors, including the community’s socio-economic characteristics, its proximity to food retail stores and the availability of public food assistance programs.

The study, titled “2012 Community Food Security in Connecticut: An evaluation and ranking of 169 Towns,” aims to improve access to “healthy food in Connecticut,” according to its authors.

Norwich came in as one of the state’s most at-risk communities, based on its poverty, unemployment rates and the lack of private vehicles. Four Windham County towns — Thompson, Woodstock, Sterling and Eastford — ranked among the worst towns based on their residents’ access to grocery stores, farm stands and other food outlets within a 10-minute drive from a community’s population center.

But many of those towns and cities, including Norwich and Putnam, deemed at-risk for their poor performance in other areas, did a good job with public assistance food programs, such as federal school meals programs and other supplemental programs. That data also included a resident’s ability to use public transportation to reach an assistance center.

Lucy Nolan, executive director of End Hunger Connecticut, a statewide anti-hunger advocacy group, said the report’s findings illustrate the impact local public food organizations have on the towns they serve. She said Norwich, which received mixed scores in the report, does an excellent job providing school meals and establishing summer meal programs — work that can counter-balance a deficit of supermarkets or a high unemployment rate.

“Even in a town where poverty levels are high, these programs provide a site where people can get meals,” she said. “But it also shows that some towns on the cusp are not using those sorts of programs much.”

The three factors — population, food retail and food assistance — are interconnected and provide a snapshot of a community’s access to food, according to the study. For example, Killingly, with its population of 17,347 residents, has a high at-risk rating based on population. It also ranks low compared to other towns for retail food access. But the town is also one of the top 14 towns in the state when it comes to providing access to food assistance programs.

“Taken together, residents in Killingly are more likely to be food insecure,” the report states. “But are successfully accessing a relatively greater amount of food assistance resources.”

Sara DesJardins, co-chairwoman of the Northeast Food Policy Council and a registered dietitian, said a town’s ability to provide school and summer meals is a critical element in the fight against hunger, especially in high-poverty areas. She said federal and state dollars are allocated to supplemental meal programs based on resident applications

“That’s what the grant funding is based on,” she said. “In some cases, two-thirds of a child’s daily calories come from school meals. And we don’t know if they get dinner.”

The UConn report lists Thompson as having the 32nd highest at-risk ranking based on population and ninth-worst rating when it comes to the number of retail food stores. But the town is one of the top 29 towns in Connecticut to provide food assistance to residents.

Donna Grant, executive director of the Thompson Ecumenical Empowerment Group, said her organization feeds roughly 130 children for 10 weeks during the summer.

“It’s not surprising that towns here are listed as food insecure,” she said. “But it’s heartening that, as a community, we’re showing signs of promise.”